Looks like a serene day out at the refuge!! Yeah, Egrets spend an awful lot of time preening all those lovely feathers don’t they. It is fun to realize that the birds I am seeing here in Florida, you are also seeing in your neck of the woods. By the lores turning green and the abundance of aigrettes yours are getting into the mood for love too! I expect my season begins before yours and advances northward.

Those aigrettes nearly cost the Great Egret its existence when they were nearly hunted to extinction for their lovely plumes. And I used the word ‘hunted’ lightly since the birds were often shot right in their nests sitting on their eggs because that is when the plumes are most luxurious. They begin to drop off and thin out the older the chicks get. I think of them as a bridal train!!